1. Match the words in italics with their definitions

- the water cycle, which includes evaporation, precipitation, and flow to the seas;

• a process in which the energy of organic molecules is released within cells;

• the loss of water vapour from the aerial surface of plants;

• any of a group of woody trees or shrubs that bear needle-like leaves and seeds in cones;

• a forest management technique in which mature trees are cut individually or in small clusters while the rest of the forest remains intact so that the forest can regenerate quickly (and naturally);

• organic matter that includes dead organisms (such as animal carcasses and leaf litter) and wastes (such as feces);

• process by which matter cycles from the living world to the nonliving physical environment and back again;

• a protected zone that connects unlogged or undeveloped areas;

• a forest management technique in which all mature trees in an area are harvested from an area in a single cutting, but a few desirable trees are left behind to provide seeds for the regeneration of the forest;

• a traditional form of subsistence agriculture in which short periods of cultivation are followed by longer periods of fallow (land left uncultivated), during which times the natural ecosystems may become reestablished;

• a forest management technique that involves the removal of all trees from an area at a single time;

• an organism (such as an earthworm or crab) that consumes fragments of dead organisms;

• the wearing away or removal of soil from the land; caused by wind and flowing water;

• the temporary or permanent clearance of large expances of forests for agriculture or other uses;

• forest management that seeks not only to conserve forests for the commercial harvest of timber and non-timber forest products, but also to sustain biological diversity, prevent soil erosion, protect the soil;

• a small organism that grows on another organism but is not parasitic on it (e.g. small plants that live attached to the bark of a tree’s branches;

• a type of shifting cultivation in tropical forests in which a patch of vegetation is burned, leaving nutrient minerals in the ash;

• a large, relatively distinct terrestrial region characterized by a similar climate, soil, plants, and, regardless of where it occurs on Earth;

• a forest management technique in which all mature trees in an area are harvested in a series of partial cutting over time.

2. Translate into Ukrainian the words in bold types.

3. Critical Thinking and Review Questions

1. What is sustainable forestry?

2. What is deforestation?

3. What are four important causes of tropical deforestation?

III. Language in Use

Complete the text with the words in the box:

Modern-Day Plague

“slash and burn” portions driver grazing simply a loss survive drives cover vapor massive swings fuel urban sprawl current

Deforestation is clearing Earth's forests on a 1) …….. scale, often resulting in damage to the quality of the land. Forests still cover about 30 percent of the world’s land area, but swaths the size of Panama are lost each and every year.

The world’s rain forests could completely vanish in a hundred years at the 2) ……… rate of deforestation.

Forests are cut down for many reasons, but most of them are related to money or to people’s need to provide for their families. The biggest 3)……… of deforestation is agriculture. Farmers cut forests to provide more room for planting crops or 4) ……….. livestock. Often many small farmers will each clear a few acres to feed their families by cutting down trees and burning them in a process known as 5) ……. agriculture.

Logging operations, which provide the world’s wood and paper products, also cut countless trees each year. Loggers, some of them acting illegally, also build roads to access more and more remote forests—which leads to further deforestation. Forests are also cut as a result of growing 6) ………. .

Deforestation has many negative effects on the environment. The most dramatic impact is 7) ……….. of habitat for millions of species. Seventy percent of Earth’s land animals and plants live in forests, and many cannot 8) ………. the deforestation that destroys their homes.

Deforestation also 9) ………. climate change. Forest soils are moist, but without protection from sun-blocking tree 10) ………. they quickly dry out. Trees also help perpetuate the water cycle by returning water 11) ………. back into the atmosphere. Without trees to fill these roles, many former forest lands can quickly become barren deserts.

Removing trees deprives the forest of 12) ………… of its canopy, which blocks the sun’s rays during the day and holds in heat at night. This disruption leads to more extreme temperatures 13) …….. that can be harmful to plants and animals.

Trees also play a critical role in absorbing the greenhouse gases that 14) ………. global warming. Fewer forests means larger amounts of greenhouse gases entering the atmosphere—and increased speed and severity of global warming.

The quickest solution to deforestation would be to 15)……… stop cutting down trees. Though deforestation rates have slowed a bit in recent years, financial realities make this unlikely to occur.